Grease cup



June 18,-1929- p w BARRICKLOW 1,717,543

GREASE GUPv Filed Nov. '7, 1925 atroz nu* Patented June 18, 1929.

UNITED c STATES PAUL W. BARRICKLOW, 'on' c'zoriuiaisns;` omo. f

n GREASE CUP.

application mea November 7,1925. serial No. casar'.

., sion of the grease or other lubricant therefrom, in order that there may be a sustained, slow feeding of the lubricant from the cup to meet the continued needs of an associated bearing or bearings. j

In accoi'clancewith the invention there is provided a grease-cup consisting cfa body provided with an outlet, and Withinfthe body there is disposed a slidable spring pressed piston operating to force the lubricant through the outlet, means being provided in conjunction with the body for ad# mitting of the introduction of a lubricant therein by means of pressure so that the lubricant introduced into the cup will serve to place the spring propel', yor other equivalent pressure agentunder tension.

It is a principal object of the invention to provide a grease-cup embodying a spring pressed plunger working in a reservoir or magazine provided with a restricted outlet, and in the provision `of novel means vby which the oil or otherlubricant is introduced into the reservoir or magazine in such a manner that after' the needs of an associated bearing have been met with, the lubricant introduced into the magazine will act to compress the plunger spring so that after the pressure oi the device has been removed from the cup, aforced or stored energy will be provided to expel the lubricant from the magazine by a continuous slow feeding operation. i

Itis a common practice to lubricate motor vehicle bearings particularly by the provision of means forrforcing the lubricant under very considerable pressure into and through the bearings, such devices being commonly termed jgrease gunsfand comprise a cylindrical barrel provided with a rpiston which is preferably screw operated for the purpose of advancing the lubricant onfthe far side of the piston toward an outlet, the latter ybeing provided withy a quick fastening means bywhich the barrel is dektachably connected with a check valve fitting provided in `connection with thebearingto be lubricated These devices serve admirably to provide a positive advance ofthe grease into and through the bearing and y.provide a considerable improvement over theusual form of han'd operated grease-cup, in `that the `process kolf lubricating a bearing 1s facilitated and a greater pressuresupplied for forcing the lubricant into `the bearing and expelling foreign clogging matter."r `It has been found, however, 'that ywhile they system of lubrication is eifectiveat thetime c it 'isused nevertheless it is not completely satisfactory in that the bearing quickly loses the lubricant supplied thereto and unless the bearing 'is supplied at frequent intervals with a freshly injected lubricant, an inefficient condition obtains. ,f

Therefore, the presentinventio-n provides a grease-cup adapted foruse in conjunction with a pressure lubricating system so that a bearing will ber continually supplied with a clear freshlubricant to an extent necessary to meet the Working requirements of the bearing for a comparatively long period or" time, avoiding the necessity, hitherto present, i

of lubricating thebearing at frequent intervals; i y c i A further object oftheinvention rests in the provision of meansfbyfwhich the amount of lubricantsupplied to each bearing from an associated grease-cup `may ybe readilycontrolled injfaccordance' with the' yactual ,desl inands offthe bearing,andanother objecty resides kin constructing the grease-cup with" indicating means of an extraneous character bywhich the amount of lubricant contained within the reservoiror magazineofthe cup may be denoted from an exterior position.L

A still further object rests in introducing a lubricant into the cup through an axially disposed passage by which the lubricant entrance to thecup isrrendered accessible for connection with an associatedgrease gun. f

For afurther understandinggof the invention referenceis to be had toy theufollowing' description and the accompanying drawing, wherein has been shown one of the preferred forms of the invention, and in which;

Figure l is a side elevation of a grease 'cup formed in accordance with the present invention and illustrating in connection `therewith a device by whichgthe cup is filled with a lubricant by pressure injection,

Figure 21s `a vertical sectionalvlew through the'` grease cup7 taken Figure 8 is a horizontal section on the line c 3 3 of FigureQ,

Figurelis a similar Y A Referring more particularly to the draw ing the ynumeral `5f designatesy Vthe improved grease-cup comprising the present'- invention in itsentirety. As shown, the cup consists` of a hollow body 6 formed to includea base.

7 having a. reduced threadedlower end 8 for insertion into a correspondingly formed opening provided inthe bearing 9 or other part to'be lubricated. Above its lower end 8 the base 7 is considerably enlarged and is pro-videdk with'r polygonal exter-ior surfaces `base 7 isl provided. with a lubricant outlet 13 preferably inopenV communication withy the bearing 9, and, this instance, the base vis provided with an upwardly lextending axially arranged ltube 14, which is vertically slotted asat15.

Slidably mounted on the tube 14 a filling sleeve 16 which is connected. with the ytube 14 by `means of a transversely disposed i 'pin 17. Thispinpassesthroughthe slots in the tube, as indicated inFigure 2, so as to limitthe movement of the sleeve in an axial longitudinaly direction, and also to prevent the sleeve from rotating axially about i'he Y tube, Afor the'purpose to be hereinafter specified.- The lowery end of the sleeve 16 has fixed thereto a plunger 18, which infthis inn Y stance consists Vof alpair :of metallic disks 19 suitably held against longitudinal movement on the lower end of the sleeve and betweenA which disks is clamped a leatheror other flexible washer 20, having the peripheral edge thereof `turned Adownwardly t extend parallel with the walls/of the casing 12 so as to provide a packing preventing the passage of the lubricant past the plunger.

The top 1,21 ofthe casing 12 is provided with a centrally disposedboss 22, interiorly threaded for thev reception of a threaded gland nut 23 'in which is slidablypositioned the sleeve 16. Y The lower end Vof the nut 23 projects in to the casing and providesa seat Afor the upperV end f of a coil compression spring 24 having the vconvolutions thereof arrangedfin conic form. The lower endof this Yspring engages the Vtop of the plunger 18 so that the normal tendencyV ofthe spring is to force the plunger downwardly inV ordery that .the lubricant contained within the cup 5 may be forced toward Ythe outlet13 and into the bearing.l It is obvious that by turn! ing the nut 23 the tension' onthe spring 24 maybe varied so asto regulate theV flow of the lubricant. from the cup in accordance with the demands of Leachparticular bear-l ingwith which 4one or more of the cups may be associated. A vent 25 is preferably provided in the casing 12 so as to release air pressurev above the piston.y

f VVl of introduce a lubricant into the cup, the upperk end of the sleeve 16 is threaded for the reception of acheck valve fitting 26.` This fitting consists of a. casing having a restricted inlet 27, that in this instance is norf mallyl closed by aball 28 pressed by a spring 29, the spring being confined between the ball and a transverse pin 31 projecting through `the fitting. This iitting is of hollow formso as tobe in open communication withthe upper end of the sleeve 16.

In operation, it will" be seen that a `lubricant, either grease or oil, may be `inserted in the cup by thepositive forcingof the lubricant past thev checlrrvalve 28, through rthe sleeve 16 and the slots 15 'inthe tube 14 so that the lubricant will enterthe reservoir or magazine 32l provided in the cup below the piston. `This is preferably accomplished by means of a grease gun or other similar pressure device 33. In the specific form illustrated the grease gun comprises a casing 34 'provided withan operating screw35, which upon-being manually rotated advances a plunger (not shown) within the ycasing 34 so 'as topush the lubricant through the flexible outlet hose 36 of the device into theeir trance end of the grease cup. The hose 36 is provided withtlie usualattaching fitting 37, that is slotted as at 38 for the reception of the protruding ends of the pin 31. It will be seen that by rotating the screw 35, when the grease gun is attached as shown in Figure 1,'the grease will be postively advanced through the -hose 36, the fitting 26, the sleeve 16 and the tube 14' sov asto fill the magazine 32 and at the same time supply the bearing 9 with an adequate quantity of the lubricant. Asr this occurs the lubricant is forced into the reservoir ormagazine 32 so as to force the plunger in anV upward direction and coinpresses a spring 24 whereby after the grease gun`has been removed and the vcheck valve 28 closed, the spring 24 will act to exercise a force-on the plunger 18 which serves to provide a slow, continued and ypositive advance of Vrthe lubricant 'inl the cup to Vthe 'bearing 9, thus enabling the said vbearing to be continuously supplied with said lubricant after the pressure gun has been removed and the pressure gun need not again be employed until after the full quantity of the lubricant has been expired; from the magazine of the cup. The quantity of lubricant contained within the cup may be exteriorly` noted by` comparing the relative positions between the upper end Yef vthefitting 26 and the casing 12. z It'will be observedthat the sleeve 16 is prevented from rotating axially by the provisionl of the tube'14 and its associated pin 17 which :is donefin order to facilitate the connecting of the assocaited iittings 26 and 37. Moreover, by positioning the filling entrance of the cup in the axial location shown convenience is obtained by the accessible position of the fitting 26. Also, by the provi Sion of the nut 23 the operative tension ot the spring 24 may be varied foreach particular bearing. y

While I havel described the. presentinvention in a single specilic embodiment, it is obvious that the Said invention not limited to the specific construction hereinbeiore related7 except in sofar as such limitations are contained in the following claim.

lWhat is claimed is:

A lubricant cup comprising a hollow body having an outlet7fa slidable plunger inpsaid body, a spring actingV on said plungertoy force the lubricant in said body through said outlet, a fixed Slotted guide projecting inwardly from said body, a hollow Stem on the plunger operating on said guide, vra pin e In testiinon whereof I aiix 1n signature.

a y :n i, n

PAUL W. yiafnameKLovv.` 

